Eric Holcomb served as the 51st Governor of Indiana from 2017 to 2025, serving as Lieutenant Governor previously. Before entering politics, Holcomb spent six years as an active duty member of the U.S. Navy. Holcomb sat down with the Harvard Political Review to discuss the current political moment, his thoughts on the scandals and division affecting the Republican Party today, and his vision for the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
HPR: What brought you to Harvard and motivated you to become a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics?
Eric Holcomb: When you think about Harvard, it’s kind of the gold standard in many respects — in terms of trying to educate, train, equip students to then go out and serve the greater good, and you can pick almost any profession to see the impact that Harvard graduates make in their hometown, state, country, or world. I’ve just been around enough people now that have that same outlook of “how do I really make systemic, positive change in the lives of others?” It can be in a small town or a big city or in a country, whatever you pursue. So this opportunity was one for me to not only share a few lessons I’ve learned along the way, but also to learn what’s on the hearts and minds of the future leaders of their home states or their home countries or our shared world.
HPR: Stepping back from politics, what do you consider to be the most important facet of your life? What’s the most important thing to you?
EH: The quality of my life, which, at the core, has to do with the alignment of your own personal faith, family, and friends. I have found that when those aren’t synchronized or balanced, one kind of gets off the rails, it takes you in a direction you don’t want to go in. You have to nurture and cultivate, and as long as you do that, really good things happen. I have love in each of those three buckets, but to me, it’s how they are synchronized. I have found throughout life that one can help the other. You can be very solitary and be consumed with your work, but maybe friends or your wife or your parents can really help. I think it’s how the pieces snap together.
HPR: You vetoed a bill which sought to curb antisemitism, saying it didn’t go far enough because it lacked references to specific examples, particularly in regards to the state of Israel. Is it your belief that criticisms of Israel are inherently antisemitic?
EH: I stand up for free speech. It’s when the speech seeks to destroy or intimidate, when it crosses over into incitement — that’s where I get a little worried. At the beginning of my first term, Indiana was one of the states that didn’t have a hate crimes law, and many people said it would never happen, but it did. I am approaching it on a case-by-case basis, and didn’t want — in the case you asked about — to do something that I thought could be counterproductive down the line.
HPR: At that time, there were around 20,000 Jewish people in Indiana and closer to 40,000 Muslim individuals. How do you respond to those who point out your administration’s differing treatments of antisemitism and Islamophobia?
EH: I think that the phobias ought to be treated equally. I don’t think there’s been any issues since we addressed it in the state of Indiana. I think there were some that were against it in the House and Senate that believed at the time that they were doing good while they were pushing it and promoting it and while they voted on it and passed it. After closer review, even the Jewish community — who you would’ve just assumed would have been for it — weren’t [supportive]. So I didn’t want to do something that was ultimately counterproductive to the peace and security of any group in the state of Indiana.
HPR: You were more critical than most Republican governors of Donald Trump, some would say due to your close relationship with Mike Pence. Did you vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 general election?
EH: I did. I served as governor during Trump and Biden and I put the state of Indiana’s interests in front of anything else. I developed a reputation as someone who sought to work with folks who wanted to be constructive about building up, not tearing down. I said “yes” to a workforce commission that Ivanka Trump and the Secretary of Commerce headed up with others about how to scale up the workforce for the future. I thought it was a case study on how to bring together different factions that maybe didn’t agree with each other. Working together, they could come out with certain recommendations about how to move forward.
I had a very positive experience with a number of cabinet officials in the first Trump administration. I had equally good and positive interactions with cabinet officials in the Biden administration. I always sought to play the hand that I was dealt and work with who was there, whether I agreed with them or not. Voting for a president comes down to a choice, one or the other. I believe that Donald Trump was the better choice in that campaign; I do to this day.
HPR: The White House initially called for over 80,000 employees to be cut from the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a veteran yourself, do you believe that gutting the VA will be the best thing for those like yourself?
EH: For anyone in elected office, they will be judged rightly on the results of their decisions and actions. Whether it was President Trump or President Biden, I won’t always agree with everything. I also understand the public’s mood demanded change. You’ve got to break some eggs to make an omelet. If service improves or doesn’t, that elected official will be held accountable, especially if the opposition is savvy enough to take advantage of those shortcomings and failings. I think the jury is out still on a lot of these decisions in terms of the metrics. I hear from people who are critical and from those who are fired up and supportive of the decisions being made. My hope is that the decisions that are being made will lead to positive outcomes in real people’s lives and help their trajectory improve, not degrade. They need the help the most, and they darn well earned it.
HPR: You were the first American governor to visit Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion. What do you make of the current state of the war, and do you think that the U.S. has been a good friend to Ukraine?
EH: I think the U.S. has walked a fine line in a very delicate situation. We just saw Putin flying over Poland. Many people predicted in Slovakia and other European countries I was in that if Putin is not dealt with, this is just the appetizer. I certainly understand the various ways our country can assist in supporting a sovereign nation under invasion, especially by someone I believe is a teacher of evil and not satisfied with his own borders.
Does that mean sending troops? I hope not. Does that mean supporting NATO when Putin himself says NATO is part of the big problem? Do I believe that Europe and America need to collectively and cooperatively push back on Putin? Yes, I do. I believe it’s that important. History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and I’m hearing a lot of rhyming right now. Putin has said that one of the worst things that’s ever happened is the collapse of the Soviet Union, and I think he’s trying to reconstruct it. It’s not just rhetoric; his actions are showing us he means what he says, and has the ability to do what he wants. If there was a way that I could go in and express that, then I was happy to go in under the cover of night to show that solidarity.
HPR: One of the recent divides within the Republican party has come down to Jeffrey Epstein. We see Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for the release of all Epstein files, while the White House attempts to evade scrutiny. How do you reconcile these factions within the same Republican party?
EH: Not to minimize the importance of what the victims went through and are still going through, but if I were a Republican in office, understanding that it’s a he-said, she-said, I would be right back in my job as governor trying to figure out how we provide safety and security and stability and continuity in growing our state. If there were Hoosiers that were victimized in this case, I would be very concerned for them and offer them help in any way I could. Where I would draw the line is this: You better be very mindful of the victims that went through this experience and are still going through it. What’s true is what’s on trial, and that will have to play out. But, do I believe that the President had an inappropriate relationship with underage girls? No. I don’t. I’ve seen no evidence of that. I’ve read things from people who are close to the President who say they don’t believe it either. Or maybe they were around, and they say they never saw that; I certainly never did. There’s lots of implications, and the people that hurl those implications will have to live with that, as well. My point is — about Jeffrey Epstein and the crimes he committed — they ought to be not just written about, but dealt with by the right people.
HPR: You termed out of being Governor, but you don’t seem to have termed out of politics, so what’s the future for Eric Holcomb?
EH: The job never defined who I was. In fact, my wife and I had this conversation when we decided to run for governor: If the job ever changed us, we wouldn’t run for reelection. I don’t think it did. At this juncture of our lives, we have a pretty good view. We start our day very early, when the sun rises, in a rocking chair on the porch. I’m not so old that I just sit in that rocking chair all day long, but we return to it at night to watch the sunset. To go full-circle, that’s true quality of life to me: watching mother nature and all she affords us with my bride at the start and end of the day. That was something I missed for eight straight years. We left it all on the field and walked away, head held high, thinking we gave it the best we could. But I don’t miss the trappings or the perks. I like to drive!
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